Pipe driver



J. L. HASTON June 10, 1952 PIPE DRIVER Filed sept. 22, 1949 www? Patented June 10, 1952 PIPE' DRIVERV Y John L. Haston, Jacksonville Beach, Fla., assgnor to John H. MacKinnon, New York, N. Y., and Archie Davis, Jacksonville, Fla.v

Application September 22, 1949, Serial No. 117,250

2 Claims.

This invention relates to impact drivers and relates more particularly to a novel driver assembly designed primarily for driving pipe through earth, power for the driver being supplied either by manual or by power driven means.

It is an important object of the invention to provide a small, portable, impact driving unit for driving pipes under highways, railroad tracks and the like.

In recent years power and communication lines have been buried in the ground rather than to have them supported on overhead installations. Various types of cable plows and trench diggers are employed for the straight cable burying operations along highways or even across fields. Difliculty is experienced, however, when a highway or railroad right-of-way is encountered.

The apparatus of the present invention readily drives a pipe for the cable through the earth for l relatively short distances where a trench digging operation is not expedient.

In accordance with the present invention the impact driver is a mobile unit mounted on'a trackway of suitable length. Cables extend from the impact driver both forwardly and rearwardly thereof. The driver assembly is first drawn rearwardly on the track and is then drawn forwardly with considerable speed, delivering a hard impact blow on the rear terminal of the pipe. Power for moving the driver assembly may loe supplied manually by workmen or a double-drum winch may =be employed, the particular source of power forming no part of the present invention.

The principal diiiiculty in an apparatus of this character resides in the tendency of the mobile unit to jump the tracks and in the preferred embodiment of the present invention this difficulty is solved by employing two spaced wheels on one side of the unit and a single, intermediately disposed wheel on the otherV side thereof.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through a highway or the like and provided on one side thereof with an excavation for the apparatus which constitutes the present invention, the view showing a side elevatio-n of such apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the driver element and also shows a broken plan view of the trackway.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the driver element.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the forward end of the driver element, the view also showing a section through the trackway, the part in section being taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

' 2 Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on line5-5 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the numeral I0 indicates a pavement on a highway, the earth below the pavement being shown at II. A drainage ditch I2 is disposed along one or :both sides ofthe pavement. The pipe which is to be driven through the earth below the pavement is shown at I3. In order to prevent damage to the forward end of the pipe and to prevent earth from entering the pipe, a coupling III is screwed on'such forward end and a suitable plug l5, which may be tapered, is screwed into the coupling. Pipe of this character comes in random lengths and in most instances two or more lengths are joined together to completely span the earth below the pavement.

As soon as one sectionof pipe has been driven the 'suflicient distance, another section is coupled to the rear of the first section and the driving continues. In order to provide ample space for the apparatus forming the present invention and als'otfor providing suitable space for the pipe, a relatively large excavation shown at ISis rst made which extends laterally from the point where thepipe is to be driven. The bottom I'I of the pit is preferably made relatively flat and the trackway I8 is placed upon such bottom.

The trackway may comprise an ordinary channel withspaced vertical walls I9 which form the tracks. The driver element preferably includes a suitable length of solid steel shafting 2|l forming the impact driver. A three-foot length of six-inch shafting suffices for most purposes. In the preferred form of the invention three transverse holes 2| are first drilled in the solid impact driver. Shafts 22 may now be force-fitted in the openings, each of such shafts carrying at their outer ends flanged sheaves 23, the flanges being Y of suicient distance apart to receive the upper end of the tracks I9.

It will ,be noted that the two terminal shafts are disposed a short distance from the respective terminals of the impact driver and that the intermediate shaft is located substantially equi-distant from the two terminal shafts. An elongated eye element v24 is suitably secured as by welding to the upper edge of the impact driver substantially midway between the ends thereof. Also, for the purpose of carrying the driver element from the truck upon which it is transported, to the trackway, additional eye elements or handles 25 are welded at each corner section thereof. The pipe is arranged to be supported adjacent its rear terminal on a block 28 having a U-shaped recess 29 which receives the pipe in more or less snug fit relation. Inverted angles 30 are secured as by welding to the lower surface of the block, the vertical portions of the angles relatively closely fitting the outer Walls of tracks i9. A transverse plate 3i may be welded to the lower surfaces of the angles, the width of the plate being-such. asto prevent bindingl action..

A relatively heavy coupling 32 is screwed on the rear terminal of pipe I3 and the pipe then placed on block 28 in the relationship shown in Fig. 1. A rope or cable .33 extends forwardly of the impact driver from eye 24 and anotherrope` or cable 35 extends rearwardlythereof. In operation, a workman draws theY driver element' rear wardly by pulling on cable 35 and then twoY or more workmen pull forciblyon cable 33. drawing.

the driver 20 into engagement with coupling` 32 at the rear end of pipe I3 with a sharp impact, thus driving the forward end of the pipe through the earth. The pipefsupporting element comprising blocks 28 and flanges 30 advance as the `pipe is driven andias soon: as the pipe has been driven a sucientidistance'anotherisection is affixed to the rearfand the operationcontinues.

Ifr-a double-drumzpowerdriven winch is used instead ofr the manual power, the-winch is vprefer-- ably. placediuporrthefroadwayf and line 35 for retracting the `.driver.unitpasses over a pulleyat therear of th'e'pit vandA backwto one of the/drums. Theropes =are=therr woundz'around the drums and therope ispulledby the winch when the rope is tightened;

It will'. bezappreciatedthat thelength ofthe-,pit can be materially reduced by using-relative shorter sections fof pipe. Incalmostievery instance the pipe is left in the ground and the cable passed through it. In come cases,x,however, such as when passing' a cable beneath'a .large tree, thev pipe Vis first. driven under= the tree, the' cable'Y passed ,40

through it,'fandf1the: pipe then with'drawn'on the oppositeside.:VY

In certain types of work', such' as in driving pipe through coral rock orishalc, the Aplug on the forward endiofthepipe'will be omitted vand the rock in chipped formv enters thevpipe from whence it mustb'e periodically yblown out by air or'water under high pressure. In ordinary earth formation,` however, once a hard clay enters the pipe it is packedlso tightly it cannot thereafter be removed,

The precisef reason Why the provision of two spaced 'wheelsfor sheaves on one side of the impact unit and oneintermediate wheel on the other sidel givesY such excellent results, largely prevents jumping of-theunitfrom` the tracks, and provides greaterstability and'balance to the assembly, is not precisely known. In some types of work, however, two wheels placed at opposite ends of the terminal shafts will give good results and such arrangement may be used without departing from thespirit of the invention.

While one formlor` embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein for illustrative purposes, and the construction and arrangement incidental to a specific application thereof have been disclosed and discussed in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is ylimited neither to the mere details or relative arrangement of parts, nor to its specific embodiment shown herein, but that extensive deviations from the'illustrated form or embodiment of the invention may be made without departing from the principles thereof.

What I claim is:

1. An impact driver assembly for driving pipes and thelike through earth formations on a generally horizontal plane, said assembly including a mobile'driver element which is mounted on a trackwayfcomprising spaced tracks on which the driver element travels, said driver element including an elongated, substantially solid metallic body having transverse holes therein adjacent its opposed terminals andan intermediate hole. midway between the terminal holes, flanged wheels carried onfthe terminal shafts on one side of the body and a similar wheel carried on the intermediatev shaft on the opposite side of the body, said wheels engaging the tracks, anV eye element carried byvthebody, and cablesleading forwardly and rearWardly-fromsaideyeelement.

2. An impact driver assembly for driving pipes and the'like throughearth formations on a generally horizontal plane, said assembly'including a driver which is mounted on' atrackway comprisingA spacedtracks, and a: support vfor the rear section of'the-pipemounted for sliding movement on thetracks,l the driver element including; an elongated, relatively heavy impact member which delivers successive impact blows to the rear terminal ofthe: pipe, shafts carried by the impact member adjacent its terminals and intermediate said terminals, anged Wheels carried on the'terminal shafts on one sideof the impact member and asimilar Wheel carried on the intermediate shaft on the opposite side-of such member, said wheels engaging the tracks, a cable leading forwardly and rearwardly from the driver, the pipe support comprising a block having'a substantially U shaped recessfor the pipe and fiianges for retaining the block-fastride the trackWay as the pipe is driven.`

JOI-IN' L. HASTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 109,623 Huy Nov. 29, 1870 573,404 Gillespie Dec. 15, 1898 1,167,075 Jacobs Jan. 4, 1916 1,727,566 Schlesinger Sept. 10, 1929 1,776,798 Sloan Sept. 30, 1930 1,800,727 Hartery Apr. 14, 1931 

